


Apology Brownies

by Written_On_The_Trees



Series: The Trees' October 2020 Writing Challenge [8]
Category: Yungblud (Musician)
Genre: (except they were never really enemies - just on bad terms), Apologies, Dom is a Bad Neighbour, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Getting Together, October Prompt Challenge, Pre-Relationship, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:35:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26901505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Written_On_The_Trees/pseuds/Written_On_The_Trees
Summary: Day 8 of my 31 October Writing Prompts. Prompt:Fire.After the second kitchen fire in three months, Dom's neighbour isn't really too fond of him...but he's got a plan to chance that.
Relationships: Dominic Harrison | Yungblud/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Trees' October 2020 Writing Challenge [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949572
Comments: 9
Kudos: 4





	Apology Brownies

“ - So, again, we’re really sorry for the smoke damage to your flat. It’s completely our fault, and we will absolute cover the cost of any repairs that need to be made, because - once again - we're so, _so_ sorry…”

Dom kept his head ducked as Adam spoke to their upstairs neighbour Iris, apologising for the fire they - Dom - had set in their kitchen last night. She wasn’t really taking their apology that well, standing in the doorway to her flat with her arms crossed across her chest as she glared at Adam, Tom, and himself, but if he was being fair Dom couldn’t really blame her.

This wasn’t the first time they’d been up here to apologise.

It wasn’t even the first time they’d been up here to apologise for causing a fire. At this point, even Adam’s charmingly remorseful smile wasn’t going to get them very far.

“Whatever. I’d say don’t do it again, but since you didn’t manage that the first three times, I won’t waste my breath.” Iris rolled her eyes: “Is there anything else you needed?”

Adam ducked his head, clearly just as embarrassed as Dom felt: “No. Just to say that we’re - ”

“’Sorry’. Yeah, I’m sure.”

The tone was dismissive, but Dom really couldn’t blame Iris for not being open to hearing their apology. This was the second fire they’d set in the last three months, and the fifth time in the same amount of time that they’d done something that ended up with them having to make a trip up here to apologise or pay for damages to her apartment, so she’d earned the right to be pissed, and the right to show it.

Honestly, Dom just felt lucky she hadn’t gone to their landlord yet. Their flat was nice - he really didn’t want to get kicked out of it, which they absolutely would if the landlord heard about the fires. And the broken windows. And the hole in the ceiling. And…well, it was a long list. And it was only the list of things that they had done that affected Iris.

It was actually pretty amazing Iris hadn’t told on them yet; they were terrible neighbours.

Then again, as far as Dom was concerned, _Iris_ was pretty amazing. Especially before all the damages to her apartment, when they had gotten on pretty well.

She was a singer, one who was becoming well-known for a mixture of covers and a few original songs played on her guitar. Her style was a lot less brash than Dom’s, but it was poignant: soft and haunting. He’d been obsessed with her videos on YouTube, and bought pretty much every thing he could on iTunes, and even brought a few pieces of her merch, even though he hadn’t been brave enough to wear it anywhere she might see him in it.

Even when they’d been on better terms, Dom had found her a little intimidating. She always seemed so perfect - elegant and poised and expertly put together and a million miles above any of the three of them.

Although that last one was because she kind of hated them…

_Well, she does at the moment._

But Dom had a plan to fix that.

Not because he was scared of her telling on them to the landlord…he was actually the opposite of scared. With her dark eyes, her warm ochre brown skin, and the waist-length braids that started of black and then blended to deep, rich blue and then brilliant teal at the ends, Dom had been pretty certain she’d been the most beautiful woman in the building even before he saw half the people living here. And he’d been right. Then he’d had a conversation with her, learned about her music, listened to it, and basically fallen in love with her.

The way she sung spoke to him. Even when she was covering other songs, there was something about her voice that just resonated in his chest. He really wanted to get along with her - partially because he knew he, Tom, and Adam needed to not be walking disasters no matter who lived upstairs, and partially because there was no way she would accept his offer of a date when she thought he was the idiot who couldn’t not set his own kitchen on fire.

So after they’d traipsed back down to their own flat, Dom set about finalising the finer details of his plan - and then put phase one of it into motion.

It took a few days for everything to arrive, but once they did Dom wasted no time in kicking everyone out of the kitchen so he could move onto phase two.

Phase two was definitely the riskiest part of the plan, since it involved using the oven, but there was no other way Dom could bake apology brownies, so he kept a stern eye on the oven from the moment he turned it on to the second he turned it off after putting the brownies on the side to cool. And then he watched it for a few minutes, just for good measure.

After that, he moved onto the next part of phase two: rolling out fondant icing so it was thin enough to put over the brownies once they had cooled down. He’d gone for two colours: pink _(obviously)_ and a shade of blue that wasn’t too far off the ends of Iris’s braids. He rolled out sheets to go over the brownies, and then smaller sheets to cut letters out of, using the hand letter-shaped cookie cutters he’d found online.

_Handy, because my handwriting’s shit at the best of times - fuck knows what it would look like in frosting…_

The point was Iris was meant to be able to read the brownies - something that would never be possible if he actually wrote on them.

So when the brownies were cool, Dom took the first one and laid a layer of blue fondant over the top, before spelling out _‘WE’RE SORRY’_ on it in pink letters.

The second brownie got a layer of pink fondant, and _‘ABOUT THE’_ written out in blue. Then it was back to blue fondant on the third brownie, and pink letters for the word _‘FIRE’_. He carried on the pattern for the other three brownies, managing to fit ‘IT WON’T’, ‘HAPPEN’, and ‘AGAIN.’ on them without making anything look too cramped together or messy, and finally took a step back to survey his work.

It wasn’t the neatest cake decoration anyone had ever done, but when arranged in the pretty silver box with the clear plastic lid, they clearly read: **_‘WE’RE SORRY ABOUT THE FIRE. IT WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN.’_**.

He’d done alright, for someone who normally couldn’t make a toastie.

He only hoped Iris liked them…and there was only one way to find out.

Dom carefully made sure the coast was clear by checking Adam and Tom weren’t in the living room, before rushing out of the flat - going as fast as he dared with the box of brownies in his hands. He took a few seconds to compose himself before knocking on Iris’s door.

“What have you three done _now_?” she asked, forehead creasing into a frown before she’d even fully opened the door.

Dom just held up the box of brownies to see: “I…um…I wanted to say sorry, again. And prove that we could use the kitchen without nearly killing ourselves.”

“That’s not what I see from your mate’s Twitter account…” Iris muttered, but she accepted the brownies: “…Did you make these yourself?”

“Yeah…surprised you couldn’t tell from how messy the letters were.” Dom attempted to joke through his nerves, smiling weakly.

Iris grinned: “I think you did a really good job.”

“Thank you…and sorry. Again.”

“I know. And although you fully deserved me getting pissed at you, considering the circumstances, I’m sorry I was rude the last time you were up here.” Iris nodded to him: “Would you like to come in for a brownie and a cuppa?”

“I don’t want to impose…” Dom started, but Iris just cut him off with a grin:

“As long as you don’t start any fires, you won’t be.”

After that, Dom couldn’t say no.

It was the first of many meetings in Iris’s flat, with Dom supplying snacks and her making the tea, and it was also the last of the setting fires apologies. Not because Dom got any better in the kitchen _(not measurably, at least)_ but mostly because Iris took over the cooking when she unofficially moved in with him a few months later, and Dom, Adam, and Tom were tasked with washing up.

Sure, they had to start making flooding the kitchen apologies, but that was to their downstairs neighbour. And he had always been a bit of a dick about living below three men he was convinced were gay.

Dom didn’t bake him brownies…but Tom and Adam did. Rainbow patterned ones.

They’d never seen Iris laugh at anything they did so much.

**Author's Note:**

> So, Iris' reference to Tom's Twitter suggesting Dom can't be in a kitchen without nearly killing himself is thanks to [this tweet](https://twitter.com/tmpllnt/status/1314178364652105731), in which Dom nearly stabs himself in which is not a kitchen but is still probably a good argument for not letting him have sharp objects.
> 
> Also, this is the first time I've ever tried to write a character as explicitly being a POC, and I'm really nervous about how I did. If any of my readers are black, I would really appreciate your thoughts, especially any constructive criticism for how I could improve. I'd really like to have more characters who are more explicitly diverse _(because I've recently come to realise that even if in my head characters aren't white, even I would probably assume they were if they weren't my characters in my stories)_ but don't want to fetishise anyone or make it seem like I'm making a chacter who has being a POC as their only defining trait, so any notes would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.


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